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1.1 Study purpose
The purpose of the study was to provide an analysis of how ICT is being developed and used within the non-ICT manufacturing sector and the impact this is having on companies’ operations, productivity, business models and competitive positions.
The first part of the study comprised a review of Australian and overseas literature on ICT utilisation and innovation in manufacturing and its impact on business performance. This review provided background for the second part of the study, which involved a series of interviews with over 20 non-ICT manufacturing companies across a range of sectors to profile the scope of ICT adoption, application and use in their business processes and incorporation in products and service offerings.
The interviews also sought to document the role and contribution of ICT to innovation and the extent of ‘hidden’ ICT development, production and/or sale[1], and to identify the factors that stimulate, facilitate and/or inhibit ICT enabled productivity enhancements.
For the purposes of this study, ICT is taken to cover component and final products (including hardware and software) and services that utilise electronic, photonic or similar means to collect, record, convert, store, process, analyse and communicate data and/or information. It includes, for example, satellite imaging, electronic or computerised controls, prototype modelling, robotics and sensors, mobile phones, algorithm development tools, decision making tools, local area networks (LAN) and control networks in factories, radio tracking, smartcards, biometrics and security technologies.
The approach taken for the study is set out in more detail in Attachment 1.
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